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These formidable predators in the Mediterranean waters are on the verge of vanishing, with poaching being a major contributor to their worrying decrease.

This finding is based on studies conducted by experts, who worked alongside an marine preservation group. They report that several critically endangered species – including great white sharks – are found on sale in ports across the North African coast.

These sharks are one of in excess of 20 Mediterranean shark species protected under international law, which prohibits to target them or to sell them.

However, by observing harbors along the North African Mediterranean shoreline, investigators found that no fewer than 40 great white sharks have been caught and killed there in 2025 alone.

Footage from social media showing endangered sharks being landed at North African ports has been authenticated.

One piece of footage showed a large great white being hauled ashore from a fishing boat in Algeria. A separate video, recorded in Tunisia, shows heads and fins of what appears to be a short-finned mako shark, which is also a species at risk.

Final Refuge

The principal scientist, clarified that many shark populations – white sharks in particular – had declined dramatically in the Mediterranean in the past years.

"No other stretch of water is subjected to such fishing pressure as the Mediterranean Sea," he said. "The impact of industrial fishing has been growing... and it's plausible that they will go extinct in the near future."

The population of great whites in the Mediterranean is now classified as Critically Endangered by the global conservation union.

In their latest attempt to find and study the animals, the team worked in the Strait of Sicily – an area considered a "last stronghold" in the Mediterranean for several sharks at risk.

A primary objective of their expedition was to fit a satellite tracking tag onto a white shark – something that has not yet been accomplished in the Mediterranean Sea.

To do this, the researchers used a large amount of bait – including baitfish and a substantial volume of scent oil to create a "scent trail" that many sharks can smell from hundreds of metres away.

After two weeks of work – chumming the water, taking samples of seawater to search for shark DNA and using subsea cameras – the researchers did not manage to find any animals to tag.

They captured only a brief glimpse of one shark on their cameras.

"It's disheartening," the lead researcher said. "It just shows how depleted this ecosystem is."

During their search for living sharks, they also learned that a small great white had been caught and killed in a regional fishery – just not far from where they were working.

It is uncertain whether that shark was caught by accident in nets or lines, or if it was targeted.

The team, however, estimates that over forty great white sharks have been harvested in that area. "This is a lot for a critically endangered population," the researcher emphasized.

Illegal Shark Trade

The team, along with regional contacts, are keeping watch on multiple ports in the region. Findings shows that sharks under protection are caught, landed and offered for sale in countries including Tunisia and Algeria.

The rules that protect sharks are complicated. Currently, two dozen endangered species have international legal protection – such as makos, angel sharks, threshers, and hammerheads.

An regional treaty states that those species cannot be "retained on board, transhipped, landed, transferred, stored, sold or displayed or offered for sale".

The agreement mandates "they must be released unharmed and alive [where] possible". Those rules are not designed for accidental bycatch and compliance varies from nation to nation.

A expert noted that his own investigation found a number of sharks on sale. But, he said, there was a unexpected hopeful sign in the fact that white sharks were appearing in trade.

"It shows that there is life remaining," he said. "And if we can protect this, there is a chance of recovery."

What Can Be Done?

In economically challenged regions in North Africa, fishers who catch sharks might face the choice of whether to earn a livelihood, or return a threatened species to the ocean.

"Why would they throw sharks back into the sea when they must feed their households?" asked a local expert. "If you assist and guide them in more responsible fishing, they will not catch white sharks."

Another expert added that if countries around the Mediterranean worked together, "there is hope."

"But," he added, "we've got to act very quickly."